"It was December 3, and still raining....It was exactly three weeks ago, for it had been on November 13 (another fat 3 on the calendar) that the first old woman had been murdered, near the church of Saint-Sauveur, a few steps from the canal." So begins one of Simenon's most powerful novels. Five old women have been killed within three weeks, and the town of La Rochelle is in a panic. A murderer stalks his victims in its dark alleys and arcades, killing in a seemingly incomprehensible pattern. In the terrorized town there is only one man who has guessed the secret, but, humble and a foreigner, he does not dare denounce a citizen of substance. His relationship with the criminal is strangely perverted—-innocent trembling before the guilty. As this chilling novel unravels with increasing momentum, it becomes more than a mystery story—-an absorbing study of the thrill of power experienced by a killer who starts out with a practical purpose and ends up addicted to his macabre skill. Tightly and brilliantly plotted, this is unquestionably one of Simenon's masterpieces. —from jacket flap
Author
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life. Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed. He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain. During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)). Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981). In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award. In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
